Cookie Monster Cookies

I mentioned that my baby turned 1 a few weeks ago. Lots of family joined us to celebrate all the joy he has brought to us this past year. But really they just came for cake. That’s why we go to birthday parties, right? And let’s face it: there is a whole lot of sitting around staring at a {cute} baby going on at a first birthday party. All that pressure to make the cake stellar forced me to cave in and buy a cake from our local grocery store.

I consoled myself by making Cookie Monster Cookies.

You see I’ve been making this basic sugar cookie recipe for 10 years. The paper it is written on is well worn and has lots of updates added to it. I like it just the way it is now. And buttercream? Well, I think I could make that in my sleep.

Is there anything more enticing than a cookie that is eating another cookie? I love 2-for-1 cookies! The Wilton grass tip #233 made the hair on this fun and easy to squeeze out. It has 11 tiny holes that the frosting pushes through at once (think back to your Play Doh days).

I used a basic flower cookie cutter. You could easily substitute a circle cutter. Pipe the blue hair buttercream. Add white chocolate and M&M eyes. Eat all of the other M&M colors. Insert a broken chocolate chip cookie. Multiply and you’re done! (I am by no means the first person to come up with this idea. If you google it you will see many other people’s take on this design.)

Directions:

For the Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth.

Beat in extracts and eggs.

In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.

DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (closer to 1/4 inch rather than 1/8).

Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

Notes:

For the Cookies:

If you must chill the dough just leave it on the countertop for 10 minutes before rolling or work the dough with your hands for a few minutes.

I hesitate to put a recipe yield on cut out cookie recipes because the yield varies with the size of cookie cutters being used. This recipe makes a LARGE amount of dough. It can easily be halved to meet your needs.

For the Frosting:

This frosting dries soft but firm- okay for stacking (may crush a little). You can let the frosted cookies dry uncovered on the countertop overnight (the frosting acts as a barrier and will keep the cookies soft and fresh.

Use clear vanilla in the frosting if you need pure white.

Half the shortening may be replaced by half butter but it will change the consistency and not dry as firm.

Use more or less cream (or milk) to reach your desired consistency for piping or spreading.

To get this color of blue I used Americolor gel paste in Electric Blue.

I love cookies and frosting. I can’t stop thinking about my baby’s 1 year party. Not so much because we get to celebrate his first year as it means, he will be done or nearly done nursing so I can eat some foods I really miss that consist of dairy, egg & soy. It will be a big celebration for EVERYONE!

You are SO creative! As much as I’m happy to be through our Sesame Street years, I would love these cookies! Cookie Monster was one of my favorites, and I like Bert (Burt?) too. Happy birthday to your little guy, they grow so quickly.

They look so cute! Isn’t it awesome the way their eyes light up when they see cookies 🙂 I made an Elmo cake for my little girl’s first birthday, six months ago! It was a perfect Elmo at all, but she LOVED it 🙂

From Connie: Super Cute Katrina, but I must say my favorite part is “Four Year Old Foodie’s Caption” It was cracking up because I know that had to be exactly what he was thinking 😉Looks like you all had a great time!

I think I will be making these for my mom this year for Mothers’s Day since we have so many fond (haha) memories of singing the Cookie Monster Song during car rides when I was a young child. Thanks for the step by step, I think I can!!

I absolutely love these cookies! I am a very amateur cake decorator, but love trying things like this. My husband talks about a Cookie Monster cake they used to get from the store as kids – I am sure even now he would love these (as well as my 6 year old). I am officially a follower. http://dinnersdishesanddesserts.blogspot.com/

How adorable!(both the cookies and the babies!)I wish I were invited to the party!I like the fact that your dough doesn’t need to be refrigerated!Thanks for sharing and I hope that you’ll enjoy many more happy birthdays:)))

Lmao. Ok… Let me start by saying those cookies are adorable. Second, let me explain that ‘lmao’. When I got to the bottom of your post, I saw the picture of the little boy before my eyes saw your adorable baby and my immediate thought was “Holy cow! That’s a one year old!” Now, Im not a kid person but I can’t believe I was that stupid for a moment. Not sure this is translating well via comment but it had me cracked up so I figured I’d try to share. >.<

I made these last night and they turned out great. I love that I didn’t need to chill the dough. Saved me so much time. I didn’t have the right tip for my decorating bag so they aren’t as cool as yours but I don’t think anyone will get them mixed up with Elmo. Thanks!

omg I first found these cookies on google images, but finally I found these website ekkkkkkkkk, I have this school assignment to do and I reckon these will defs come in handy to make! they are incredibly cute and they seem edible xx thank you so much for this outstanding cookie monster recp. Katrina

Where can I buy the white chocolate discs used for the eyes? Also, how did you get the M&Ms to stay in place? I’m not a very experienced baker but you made it seem so easy that I’d like to give it a try!

I have to say that these are adorable. How does the shortening buttercream frosting compare to royal icing? I’m making Halloween cookies. Also, I made your sugar cookie recipe last night and it is by far the BEST I have ever made. Even better than Martha Stewart’s. Thanks for publishing. I like that there is no refrigeration time and it doesn’t dry out.

I love this adorable idea. I can’t wait to make these for my birthday! Your little boys are precious. How do you get the frosting so “stringy” looking? It kinda looks like fur. Do you use a certain cap for the piping bag? I hope you will write back! And I can’t wait to try some other recipes of you like the red, white and blue drinks. 😉

I’m a terrible baker, but wanted to spend at least a day in the kitchen with my 3 year old baking holiday treats. This was the best sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever tried–they turned out great and it was awesome there was no chiling needed. My dough seemed kind of “crack-y”–cracks developed when rolling. But the cookies were awesome! I made a few copies of the recipe to stick in the different boxes of cookie cutters in the pantry so it’s right at hand next time! Of the four things we baked today (soggy Magic Bars, a cream cheese Babka that didn’t rise, and mini-candy bars sandwiched in pretzels then dipped in white chocolate that just didn’t stick together), these were the only Pinterest success! Thanks!!!!

Thanks for sharing the recipe! It worked out great for me. I wanted to ask, how long can you freeze the cookies? and how long if you keep them in an airtight container (not in the freezer)? I have two little kids and I seem to have to do cookies in different parts and can’t finish them in one day. So I made cookies yesterday and would like to continue until the end of the week for my son’s party at school. Once again thank you!

Your website states that these can be frozen. Neice having sweet 16 I want to make mardi gras masks for the party but I’m going to need time. So after I bake the cookies and they cool should I decorate before freezing? Or freeze, thaw, decorate? Thanks

Just a heads up. I tried this recipe and the batter was so crumbly it was like chunky sand. I double checked the recipe multiple times to see if I missed something but I followed it correctly. I didn’t see any other reviews mention this but I ended up adding almost 1/2 cup milk a tbsp at a time to get it to a consistently that would stick together. Also it doesn’t specify if the butter should be salted or unsalted.

The cookies were kind of bland by themselves, a good texture but not a typical sugar cookie. I did a meringue buttercream icing and that added a lot of sweetness to it so together they weren’t well and it was not overly sweet. All in all though I am going to try a different recipe next to compare.